Empire State: No lights for Mother Teresa
Officials for the Empire State Building say there is a policy against honoring religious figures like Mother Teresa. (June 14, 1997) Credit: AP
The owner of the Empire State Building says he won’t light the landmark skyscraper for Mother Teresa because of a policy against honoring individual religious figures.
Anthony Malkin’s statement Wednesday comes amid a worldwide uproar over the decision not to illuminate the building on the late Nobel Prize Winner’s 100th birthday in August.
A lay group, the Catholic League, first made the request in February, and was denied.
The League says individual religious figures have, in fact, received the honor. It said Empire lighting marked the deaths of Cardinal John O’Connor in 2000 and Pope John Paul II in 2005.
On Wednesday afternoon, City Council members planned to discuss what they called a snub of the revered nun who worked for the poor and the sick.
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